Galician playwright and actor Manuel Lourenzo dies at 82

The Galician writer and actor Manuel Lourenzo , author of some 300 plays and winner of the National Prize for Dramatic Literature in 1997 , has died in A Coruña at the age of 82. Born in Ferreira do Valadouro (Lugo) in 1943, he wrote his first play, O Moucho , in 1960, and directed his first theatrical performance, O cabalo do cabaleiro , by Carlos Muñiz, in 1965, according to the Ministry of Culture website. Lourenzo was considered one of the most important figures in Galician theatre.

With a degree in Acting from the Barcelona Theatre Institute, he participated in the creation of the theater group O Facho in 1965, an activity he combined with his teaching career for several years. He also founded Teatro Circo, the first independent Galician theater group, and the Luis Seoane Theater Company in 1980.

As a playwright, he authored works such as Veladas indecentes (1997), written in Galician and for which he won the National Prize for Dramatic Literature. "My theater is insubordination, an act of disobedience, and a struggle to keep the memory of history alive so as not to repeat mistakes," he said when this award was announced. His other works include O circo de medioite (1997), Flores de Dunsinane (2009), and Suite Artabria (2017). He also worked as a stage designer and translated into Galician classics of literature, such as Goethe, Chekhov, Strindberg, and Brecht.

In 2024, he was recognized at the Galician Culture Awards in the Literature category, and last May he received the Insignia de Oro from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC).

He also made his debut in cinema, in the film Entre Bateas (2001) and in television series such as Mareas vivas (1998) or Fariña (2018), where he played a drug trafficker.

The president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda , has published on social media that Galician culture “loses an unforgettable reference”, while he has expressed his condolences to the family, friends and those who had “the good fortune” to work with him.

The Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) has lamented the death of this "central figure in Galician theater and audiovisual media, a playwright, a recognized voice committed to language and culture."